Acts & Discourses - Trimester 4
The challenge of other possibilities
The danger of being satisfied with working within the comforts of the familiar; therein lies mediocrity.
Many of the features of David Parr house include painted floral patterns, gothic text and stained glass windows
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The irony here is that I will be using a product of industrialisation to promote the anti-consumption phrase ‘Sham Wants’. To Morris, a proponent of the artisan method of painting by hand, the letterpress would have been considered an industrial process. Today however, in the digital world, the letterpress is an artisan technique. The letterpress also has a rich history in anti-establishment art/posters. It is therefore an appropriate method to use in this context.
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Experimenting with different ways of obscuring the text to affect legibility. This may have the effect of forcing the viewer to engage more with the work.
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Going over the photograph using a tablet produced a more graphic style to the images than would otherwise have been achieved if they had been hand drawn.
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The half-drop pattern disguises an obvious grid structure forming within the pattern. This would have occurred if a simple horizontal/vertical transformation had been used.
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This half-drop wallpaper pattern requires a 5-layer screenprint. The intention is to produce a 3 – 4m roll.
Pink is layer 1.
Pink is layer 1.
Layer 2 text infill.
This layer encountered a problem. It appears that finger prints are present on the screen which prevents the ink from transferring cleanly. Due to time constraints this layer will have to be abandoned.
This layer encountered a problem. It appears that finger prints are present on the screen which prevents the ink from transferring cleanly. Due to time constraints this layer will have to be abandoned.
Problem 1: Registration
Difficulty in aligning multiple layers. Here the pink petals are out of sync with the rest of the pattern.
Difficulty in aligning multiple layers. Here the pink petals are out of sync with the rest of the pattern.
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Problem 2: Drying ink
The time taken to attempt better registration when printing on the floor results in the ink drying on the screen before it can be printed. This results in patchy ink application.
The time taken to attempt better registration when printing on the floor results in the ink drying on the screen before it can be printed. This results in patchy ink application.
Problem 3: Smudging ink
Moving the frame to different parts of the paper whilst the ink is still wet invariably led to smudging and ghosting.
Moving the frame to different parts of the paper whilst the ink is still wet invariably led to smudging and ghosting.
Resorted therefore to a single width roll of paper. This enabled printing and better registration to be carried out on the printing table.
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The Arts and Crafts movement was a celebration of skill and the appreciation of beauty. Although similar results could be achieved here through the use of letterpress or screenprinting, I felt it important to use a ‘slow’ art form.
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The decision to repeat ‘Sham Wants’ in a type font was influenced by Glenn Ligon’s exhibition at the Fitzwilliam museum. However Ligon’s text slowly becomes less defined and more difficult to read reflecting perhaps the messiness of history relating to the black experience and its tendency to obscure alternative narratives.
I didn’t think obscuring the text (at this point) was compatible with the precision/style of David Parr’s and William Morris’ work.
I didn’t think obscuring the text (at this point) was compatible with the precision/style of David Parr’s and William Morris’ work.
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A colour swatch generated from the ceiling of the drawing room in the David Parr house. The Swatch was used to choose the colours of the wallpaper design.
This new wallpaper design uses the three ornaments bought at Emmaus but which resemble those which Elsie added to the house. The text ‘Sham Wants’ alluding to the useless qualities of the ornaments, reinforcing the contradiction between David Parr’s vision for the house and Elsie’s contributions.
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The repeating wallpaper pattern here printed onto a cotton/linen mix fabric. This may lead to further decorative potential e.g. upholstery. This raises the possibility of creating a full mise-en-scéne with walls and furniture covered in the same pattern. A maximalist visual overload akin to that of the David Parr House.
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The ubiquitous tote bag; It serves multiple purposes. It’s not just a bag. It acts as a vehicle for brand design and a signifier (a very public one) of lifestyle choices. It acts as free advertising as well as promoting further consumption.
The idea behind the Sham Wants tote bag is to make a political statement. Taking William Morris’ anti mass consumption and industrialisation phrase and putting it on a tote bag highlights the consumer’s complicity in perpetuating false need.
The idea behind the Sham Wants tote bag is to make a political statement. Taking William Morris’ anti mass consumption and industrialisation phrase and putting it on a tote bag highlights the consumer’s complicity in perpetuating false need.
Murano, Venice, where every shop stocks and sells Murano glass ornaments of every description and for every possible taste – the very definition of sham wants.
Three ‘tourists’ sporting the tote bag in a Murano glassware shop. Although the performance is comical, there is a serious side to the message.
Three ‘tourists’ sporting the tote bag in a Murano glassware shop. Although the performance is comical, there is a serious side to the message.
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Taking a leaf out of the Arts & Crafts movement and its focus on the process of making all stages of production.
William Morris was against the breaking up of skills into smaller components. I therefore decided to make my own lightboxes. This proved challenging!
William Morris was against the breaking up of skills into smaller components. I therefore decided to make my own lightboxes. This proved challenging!
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An exhibition by British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare commissioned by the William Morris gallery in Walthamstow in 2015. Shonibare used photographs of Morris and his family from the archives and re-shot them to reflect the multicultural and societal changes in the area since Morris’ era. These two photographs reflect part of that project.
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Unforeseen problems:
- The wallpaper couldn’t be pasted to the rough brickwork. So I had to resort to nailing it to the wall.
- It looked a bit like a badly wrapped Christmas present!
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This photograph (1 shot with 6 people not a composite of three photos) takes as its inspiration Yinka Shonibare’s response to William Morris’ family photograph. Three generations of the same family depicting the changing attitudes and styles.
The setting, clearly a derelict building with some added wallpaper to link it to the rest of thr mise-en-scène.
The second photograph has the people removed. This, I think, when seen in conjunction with the first image reinforces the fact that the key component to a home is the people that inhabit the space, either currently or in the past, as a result of the marks they leave.
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The aim was to reinforce that it was artists responding to the David Parr House. By including photographs of the artists the aim was to personalise it and highlight the diverse cultural mix.
There is also a degree of humour in the image and camaraderie.
The choice of colours in the backdrop to each person was colour matched to the David Parr house
There is also a degree of humour in the image and camaraderie.
The choice of colours in the backdrop to each person was colour matched to the David Parr house
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The lightbox image representing Parr House’s current aspirations as a home for contemporary art exhibitions (as well as of course its core role as a heritage site).
Three generations of one family and how they want the outside world to view them. It managed to thread together all the different strands of the mise-en-scène.
Three generations of one family and how they want the outside world to view them. It managed to thread together all the different strands of the mise-en-scène.
The mark made by Elsie on the house. The bringing in of lots of porcelain ornaments. A style in complete contrast to the ethos of the Arts and Crafts movement. ‘Sham Wants’ printed in the background to emphasise this clash.
Chairs used to represent a home and the setting down of roots. Here they represent David Parr’s arrival in the house.
Two of the tromp l’oeils attached to the right hand panel. A visual trick but also playing with the notion of pictures often regarded as 2D objects.
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One chair with the ‘Sham Wants’ tote bag was placed in the reception area of the visitor centre next to the shop. It blended into its surroundings + the bag alluded to the proximity of the commercial space.
The other chair placed in the rest room. Somewhere to place your bag and coat. It’s style in keeping with the house blurs the boundary between where art finishes and house begins. The only real clue being the fabric pattern.
In the house Elsie’s ornaments lie in contrast to the work of David Parr. The initial intention of placing the ornament in the shop (which has many beautiful objects for sale) was to accentuate this contrast. Its price tag of £1000 was to highlight the discrepencies in value between what is deemed ‘craft’ and what is classified as ‘Fine Art’. However its positioning in the shop was misinterpreted by the Parr house as being a critique of the price of objects in the gift shop and this caused some issues. As a result the ornament was moved in with the mise-en-scène as shown on the previous page.
This also highlighted the issue surrounding the limits of what artists can do whilst working within an institutional setting.
This also highlighted the issue surrounding the limits of what artists can do whilst working within an institutional setting.
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